Shaved Asparagus and Orange Salad with Sesame

My pop got me a scary mandoline slicer for my birthday this year (he also got one for my step-monster and claims it slices up spuds slicker 'n deer guts...colorful). I thought this salad, albeit a pain in the butt to make, might bear revisiting using the mando instead of the peeler I used the first time. I've only made this once before...last spring when asparagus was plentiful. I wasn't fool enough to make it again. Until the other night. I did start out trying to slice the spears with the mandoline, but ended up using the peeler for most of them. So, bearing in mind you'll probably be cursing like a sailor when peeling your aspergeese, put the kids out of earshot and give it a go! :-)

Shaved Asparagus and Orange Salad with Sesame:
(serves 2)

1 bunch of thick asparagus
~1/4-1/2 tsp grated orange zest
1 large navel orange (+another ~1/2 for juice)
3 Tbs fresh orange juice
1 1/2 Tbs rice wine, or champagne vinegar (I went champagne before I decided on the Asian twist)
a small squeeze of agave nectar
~1-2 tsp toasted sesame oil (honestly don't know how much I added)
fresh cracked black pepper, sea salt to taste
a little canola oil to taste…I just add this to the dressing as I stir, tasting till I'm happy with it
Gomasio, or toasted sesame seeds (I used seaweed Gomasio by Eden)

Shave asparagus after trimming off tough ends. Place asparagus spear on the edge of a cutting board and holding from the head and using a sharp peeler, peel from flower to root end until you've gotten as many slices as you're gonna get.
Now evaluate if you'd like to continue with this madness.
The results will be delicious if you choose to sally forth, but your call.
If you're a loon and now have a pile of shaved asparagus in front of you, put it in a medium sized bowl.Mix dressing ingredients (orange zest through canola oil) together and set aside.

Using a knife, cut off the polar ends of the navel orange. Stand the orange on one end and cut from the top down until you've removed all the peel and bitter white pith.
Bisect the orange, then cut into slices. Now cut those slices in half. Add to the asparagus.
If you happen to find yourself with an organic orange with really fibrous membranes like I did, just cut the segments so that you have supremes and forgo eating the membranes...

Pour dressing over asparagus and orange combo, stir and let sit for 5 minutes.
Serve topped with toasted sesame seeds, or Gomasio.

We ate our salad as a side to one of our favorite mains, Thai Tilapia over black rice.

Miso Marinated Halibut over Soba Noodles

We'll definitely be eating this again! Yum, yum, yum. I didn't want to toss the marinade so I went ahead and reduced it in a pan, then added a few more ingredients to round out the flavor. Worked great! Thanks Gayle for a total keeper. :-)

Just as an aside...wild Alaskan halibut falls into the "moderate" category for mercury levels and should just be eaten once a month at most if you're a healthy non-pregnant adult. I'm guessing that this would be great made with wild Alaskan salmon too, which you can eat as much of as you'd like.

Miso Marinated Halibut:
(marinade narrated to me from the back seat of our car by my godmother Gayle Donsky :-)

1/3 cup sake
1/3 cup mirin
1/3 cup miso (I used white)
3 Tbs brown sugar (I use less or it's a bit too sweet for...usually 1-2)
2 Tbs soy sauce
halibut steaks (any sturdy white fish will do)
canola oil/butter
chili-garlic sauce
rice wine vinegar
warm water
soba noodles
chopped green onions to garnish

Mix sake, mirin, miso, brown sugar, and soy sauce in a large ziplock bag, then add fish (I was going to use black cod, but the fresh wild halibut looked really good today).
Marinate for up to 12 hrs...I marinated for ~6.

Pour marinade into a skillet and cook until the sauce thickens and turns a nice coppery color.


Transfer sauce to a small bowl and add ~1-2 Tbs of rice wine vinegar, ~1 tsp of chili-garlic sauce, and some water to thin the sauce to taste and set aside.

Preheat broiler on high with the rack 6" away from the flame.
Melt a bit of butter and canola oil in an oven-safe skillet.
Place halibut skin side down in pan and sear for about 3-4 minutes, then place under broiler until done.

Boil the soba noodles in the last 4-5 minutes of the fish cooking.
Serve fish over noodles, dressed with a little sauce and topped with green onions.
Saute some snow peas to round out this wonderfully easy meal.
We gave this one 4 thumbs way up in our house.

Asian Sweet Potato Chowder

I'm not sure this even sounds good today. It's at least 101 outside and hot soup? Hm...
The Monster thought this sounded like a good one, so even though I found the recipe this past winter, we're giving it a try tonight. A nice cooling cucumber salad might balance it out. We'll see what I come across in the fridge...
(We really enjoyed this btw. It'll be a keeper)

Asian Sweet Potato Chowder:
(Southern Living)

1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons curry oil*
6 cups organic chicken broth (or veggie broth)
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped (2 pounds)
1/2 cup coconut milk (freeze the leftover milk for the next round of soup making)
1/4 cup light sour cream (I used 2% Greek yogurt)
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lime rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1/4 cup chopped green onions
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
Garnish: fresh cilantro sprigs
Optional: a squirt of siracha chile sauce

Sauté ginger and garlic in hot oil in a Dutch oven for 1-2 minutes. Add chicken broth and sweet potato; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, 20 minutes or until potato is tender.

Add coconut milk and next 3 ingredients; cook, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly heated (do not boil). Remove from heat. At this point I used a stick blender to thicken the soup slightly. Most of the sweet potato pieces remained intact, but the few that got whizzed up colored the soup nicely. Add green onions and chopped cilantro. Garnish with cilantro sprigs if desired.

*If you can't find curry oil, substitute sesame oil and add 1/2 teaspoon curry powder.

Yield: 7 cups...this would serve 4 at about 265 cals per bowl iffn' your interested. ;-)

Thai Tofu Noodle Soup with Lemongrass and Watercress and Avocado Salad

I used a recipe found quickly online tonight, but it was definitely lacking punch to the broth. I amended each bowl with more soy sauce, rice wine vinegar (not called for in the original recipe) and Siracha chili sauce until we were happy with it. This is really going to be a to-your-taste recipe guys. You'll have to tweak it for sure. Wish I could be more exacting with amounts, but then...when have I ever been?? :-)
The salad was delicious! The original recipe from Epicurious called for 3 Tbs. of oil. I didn't think that was necessary and heard no complaints from using much less. Try this simple salad if you find yourself standing in front of some lovely watercress in a grocery store.


Thai Tofu Noodle Soup with Lemongrass :

1-2 stalks lemongrass (see complete instruction here), OR 4 Tbsp. frozen prepared lemongrass (I actually just grated 2 stalks on my microplane and used all of it)
1 package Thai rice noodles (I'm using brown rice noodles that I'll cook as per the pkg instructions)
1 thumb-size piece galangal OR ginger, thinly sliced into matchstick-like pieces
6 cups chicken broth (or veggie broth if making a vegetarian version)
1/2 package firm, medium or soft tofu (packed in water) - drain off the water and slice tofu into cubes or slabs (I'm using thin slices of extra firm tofu sliced into ~1/8"+ thick rectangles)
sugar snap peas sliced in half on the diagonal
2 carrots, sliced (I used baby carrots)
2-3+ Tbsp. fish sauce (If making veggie version, there is vegetarian fish sauce available)
2+ Tbsp. soy sauce
1/2 can+ good-quality coconut milk
3-4 kaffir lime leaves (usually available in frozen packets at Asian/Chinese food stores, I subbed 3-4 tsp lime zest)
about 1/2 cup fresh basil, roughly chopped if leaves are large
fresh roughly chopped cilantro
couple spoons of chili garlic sauce
seasoned rice wine vinegar to taste
juice of a lime
Siracha chili sauce to serve at the table

1. Again for complete instructions on how to buy and cook with lemongrass, see: All About Lemongrass: Your Guide to Buying, Preparing, and Cooking with Lemongrass.
2. First, place noodles in a pot of boiling water. Cover the pot and turn off the heat. Allow the noodles to soak in the hot water while you prepare the soup.
3. Place broth in a soup pot along with lemongrass (include left-over stalk pieces), plus galangal (or ginger), lime leaves, and carrots. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium. Allow to simmer while you chop up and add the remaining vegetables (about 5 minutes).
4. Add the remaining vegetables. Stir and then allow to simmer 2 more minutes.
5. Reduce heat to minimum and add the coconut milk, stirring until dissolved. Finally, add the tofu, gently stirring it in so it doesn't fall apart.
6. Add the fish sauce and soy sauce. If you prefer your soup spicy, add 1-2 tsp. chili sauce (OR simply serve it on the side for those who like it).
7. Do a taste test, adding more fish sauce or soy sauce if not salty enough. If you find the soup too salty (this depends on how salty your broth was to start with), add 1 to 2 Tbsp. lime juice. If too sour for your taste, add 1 tsp. agave nectar. Tweak until you're happy with the broth
8. Check rice noodles to make sure they are cooked (if still a little hard, boil briefly). Drain the noodles and portion them out into bowls. Tip: If you have extra noodles left over, leave them in the colander and rinse with cold water to prevent sticking.
9. Pour ladles of soup over each bowl of noodles. Sprinkle fresh basil and cilantro over each bowl.

Avocado and Watercress Salad:
(adapted from Epicurious.com recipe)
serves 2

1/4 cup unseasoned or light seasoned rice vinegar
1 tablespoon grated sweet onion such as Vidalia or Walla Walla (use large holes of a box grater)
1/4 cup finely grated peeled Gala apple (I used a Pink Lady)...use box grater again...chop a bit more after grating.
4 teaspoons soy sauce
a small touch of agave nectar (taste first, you may not want this)
1-2 tsp vegetable oil
watercress (thin stems and leaves only; from 1 large bunch)
a couple of handfuls of torn baby spinach to flesh out the salad
1/2 firm-ripe avocado


Stir together vinegar, onion, apple, soy sauce, and agave nectar, then stir in oil.

Just before serving, toss watercress and spinach with enough dressing to coat. Quarter, pit, and peel avocado, then cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. Gently toss with greens.

Cooks' notes:
•Watercress can be trimmed 1 day ahead and chilled in a sealed bag lined with damp paper towels.
•Dressing can be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered. Stir or shake before using.

Thai Coconut Bubble Tea

I got a wild hair this weekend and seized upon the idea of making my own bubble tea at home. Mind you, I didn't have a recipe! No, I decided to make one up. The Monster loves him some coconut bubble tea, so that had to be my main ingredient. Sounded like we needed to make the trek to My Thahn Super-Insanely- Large Asian market waaaaaay up north. I had all kinds of weird goodies to get afterall...not all of which were found. I KNOW they used to have fresh kaffir lime leaves, but this time I couldn't find them anywhere, frozen or fresh. No worries, I just subbed some lime zest and that seemed to be just fine.

The Plan:

steep aromatics in heated soymilk and sweeten the mix with agave nectar

freeze a can of coconut cream (cream is 70% coconut, versus 55% in coconut milk, but both are unsweetened) in a gallon sized freezer baggie on a sheet pan...so it'd freeze faster and I could break off thin chunks as needed...and, I don't have an ice cube tray!

cook up my 5 minute tapioca balls (I got bags of both green tea flavored and the regular dark ones)

blend the iced coconut cream, a little crushed ice and now chilled soymilk concoction

add a scoop of tapioca balls to a glass and top with blended coconut milk mix

stick pilfered (actually the guy at our local Vietnamese restau was kind enough to give us some)
tailpipe-sized straws in and slurp til we regretfully reach the bottoms of our glasses

So are you just nutty enough to try this yourself? Yay! Here's the recipe loony! :-)


Thai Coconut Bubble Tea:

6 whole sprigs of cilantro
10 large thai basil leaves
1 Tbs grated lemongrass (outer leaf removed)
1 1x1" piece of galangal, peeled and sliced (our HEB has actually started carrying this now!)
1 1x2" piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
2 kaffir lime leaves, or 2 tsp grated lime zest (I forgot to put it in the bowl when taking the shot of the ingredients.)
2 cups of plain unsweeted soymilk (although I suppose if you want you can use the sweet one)
1/4 cup agave nectar (or to taste)
1 large can of unsweetened coconut cream (I'm sure the regular coconut milk would work just fine...I bought both at the Asian market just cause I couldn't make up my mind)

crushed ice
large tapioca balls (the softer kind made for putting in drinks)
large straws! (didn't come across these at the market, but they HAD to be there)

Pour whole can of unsweetened coconut cream into a gallon-sized freezer bag and lay flat on a baking sheet in the freezer. Let it freeze solid.
Put cilantro through kaffir lime leaves (or lime zest) in a food processor. Blend until well smooshed.
Add to a saucepan and add 2 cups of soymilk. Bring to the boil, stirring and making sure that it doesn't scorch.
When it comes to the boil, remove from heat and cover. Leave to steep for 20 min. or so.
Place a fine seive over a bowl and pour soy mixture in to strain all the solids from the milk.

Make sure you squish out all the good liquid from the solids with your teflon paws.
Add agave nectar to your taste...I used 1/4 cup of amber agave, but the light agave would be really good.
Cover bowl and place in fridge to chill.
When your coconut cream is frozen and your soymilk mixture nicely chilled, cook your tapioca as per the instructions on the package. Scoop some into each glass of bubble tea you'll be making.
Get out your blender.
Per glass of bubble tea i added ~___coconut cream, ~___soymilk mixture, and ___crushed ice....(ok, this was written before I had an idea how much of each to use. Guess what. I still don't know how much!! :-) Just play with the amounts and make sure you have a really good blender. We ended up with chunks of frozen coconut cream in ours. A better idea might be to mix liquid coconut cream into your soymilk mixture until the flavor is right, then add more plain soymilk to dilute if you want. Then just serve over ice instead of blending with frozen elements. Not as much fun, but I've had it served this way plenty of times in restaurants)
Blend until smooth.

Now pour over the tapioca pearls in each glass.

Stick in that huge straw and start slurpin'!

This version should probably be reserved for days you've really kicked your ass at the gym!
My next flavor is going to be fresh honeydew with the green tea pearls and it should be decidedly lighter in calories and less trouble to make. :-)

Hoisin Cashew Chicken Noodles

I've got 2 chicken breasts left from last night's meal, so we'll go with another Asian inspired meal tonight. Some organic broccoli is also residing in our fridge, and I've got some angel hair spelt pasta in the pantry. Just need a sauce to bring it all together. The cashew hoisin dipping sauce from the spring rolls we made went over really well with both the Monster and myself, so I think I'll make up a batch of that and thin it with some of the pasta water. I've got another batch of green onions that I'll lightly saute and toss in with the whole works and call that dinner.

ABORT, ABORT, ABORT!!! The organic broccoli was riddled with buggies that I could NOT wash out! Ick! Organic good, bug infested that you can't wash out, baaaaaad. Not up for that extra protein tonight...sorry.

Alright let's revisit the fridge. Looks like it's going to be those green onions, a weenie bit of red pepper, and a bunch of fresh basil. There's a cucumber and carrots that can pass as a salad. Ok, crisis averted.
Onward!

Hoisin Cashew Chicken Noodles:

~1-2 tsp canola oil
cubed cooked marinated chicken (2 breasts from last night)
a bunch of green onions, sliced in ~2 inch lengths on the diagonal
~1/2 red pepper, diced
spelt angel hair pasta (or chinese egg noodles)
hoisin cashew sauce (recipe follows)
3 ladles full of reserved pasta water, save more than you think you'd need
generous handful of rough chopped basil
lime wedges

Bring a large pot of water to the boil.
When water is boiling, heat canola oil in a non-stick skillet over med.-high heat.
Drop noodles (the spelt only takes 4 minutes), and saute red pepper and onions for a couple minutes. Add diced chicken and warm though. Drain noodles, and toss into skillet with as much sauce as you'd like, a couple ladles of water...until you're happy with the consistency and toss with basil. Remove from heat and serve with a wedge of lime.

Hoisin Cashew Sauce:
(slightly adapted version of Steamy Kitchen's recipe)

This is great to have on hand. Quick to whip up and saves well for about a week in the fridge.
I end up finding all kinds of uses for it.

1 Tbs canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/3 cup hoisin sauce (if you're in Texas, Central Market has a great organic one)
a small squeeze of agave nectar
juice of 1/2 a lime
1+ Tbs chili garlic sauce (I use more than 1 T)
3 Tbs roasted cashew butter (look for it in the bulk section of your grocery store)
1/4 cup+ water (you'll need more than the quarter cup)

Heat oil in small sauce pan. Saute garlic until it starts to turn golden, then add
the hoisin, chili garlic sauce, agave nectar, lime juice, and cashew butter and whisk til creamy. Add water to thin, remove from heat, cover and set aside until ready to use.

Carrot and Cucumber Salad:

rice vinegar
a spoonful of chili garlic sauce
salt
pepper
a squeeze of agave nectar
a few drops of toasted sesame oil
quartered and sliced English cucumber, peel on
shredded carrots (I just put a hopperfull of baby carrots into my food processor and shredded using the grating plate)
a couple Tbs of chopped cilantro

Mix rice vinegar through sesame oil in the bowl you'll serve the salad in. Then add carrots, cuke, and cilantro and toss.

Asian Marinated Chicken over Arugula with Green Onion and Sesame Potato Patties

I took a different turn with last night's meal than I'd originally planned. I had chicken breasts that I'd intended to make another chicken pot pie with, given I have another piece of buttermilk crust in the freezer. Only we had a beautiful box of baby arugula that had been languishing in the fridge for too long and how to use enough of that with a big ol' chickie pot pie sitting on our plates?? Another salad seemed to be in order. The leftover mashed potatoes morphed into what I thought might pass for Asian-esque patties. If you make this, just make sure to marinate your chicken about mid-day, so it'll be ready for you at dinner. Or, you could just make the chicken the day before and eat it cold to save time. Just don't slice it until you're ready to make the salad.

Asian Chicken Marinade:

Durn...I guess I should have written down amounts when I made this! I just threw a bunch of stuff into a big ziplock bag as a marinade without measuring. If it sounded like it'd be good, it got tossed in! I'd love to be able to replicate it to some degree though, so I'll try to write up a semi-recipe for the marinade.

~5 Tbs soy sauce
~2-3 Tbs dry sherry
2 glugs (that's a measurement!) of organic hoisin sauce
2 spoonfuls of chili garlic sauce
3 whole smashed cloves of garlic
~2 Tbs rice wine vinegar
a squeeze of agave nectar
~1 tsp toasted sesame oil
lime juice
~1" of ginger, grated (it looked like about 1-2 tsp?)

Place all ingredients in a bag with 4 skinless boneless (and natural if you can get it) chicken breast halves and marinate for ~4 hrs., turning the bag periodically. When you remove the chicken to cook it, pour the marinade into a small sauce pan.

Sauce made from marinade:

~1/2 tsp arrowroot powder (or cornstarch)
more agave nectar

Bring the marinade up to a boil and cook for at least 3 minutes. Remove from heat and pass the marinade through a sieve to remove the solids. Return the marinade to the sauce pan and whisk in about 1/2 tsp arrowroot powder (or 3/4 tsp cornstarch) and another squeeze of agave. Simmer to thicken then set aside. You'll brush a little of this on one side of the chicken while cooking and use the rest to drizzle over the sliced chicken.

Cooking the chicken:

You could either grill these, or use a skillet like I did. I lightly oiled a non-stick skillet and heated over med.-high. Cooked the chicken breasts for ~6 min. on the first side, then flipped, brushed with some sauce made from the marinade, covered the skillet, and turned down the heat a bit. The marinade will tend to burn onto the pan and cooking it in a more moist environment helps a lot. I even added a bit of water at the end so that I could continue cooking the chicken to an internal temp. of ~165. Remove the chicken to a plate and cover for ~10 min.

Prepping the Green Onion Black Sesame Potato Patties:

Cold mashed potatoes
Green onions cut into thin lengthwise strips
~1-2 tsp black sesame seeds (got these in the bulk spice aisle at CM, just for fun one day)
one egg
Panko bread crumbs
canola oil
canola non-stick spray

This recipe assumes you have cold leftover mashed potatoes in your fridge that need to GO. :-)
The potatoes were already adequately seasoned, so all I did was saute up the green onions in a little toasted sesame oil on lowish heat and mix them into the taters. Mix in the sesame seeds too. Now set up a potato station...
Your bowl of mashers is the first stop. Then, in a medium bowl, mix the egg and a little water to make an egg wash for your second stop.
Now place a thick even layer of Panko crumbs on a medium sized plate for the third stop.
You won't cook these until you've plated your salad.

Plating the salad:

organic baby arugula
slices of ripe avocado
slices of orange
rice wine vinegar
toasted sesame oil
kosher salt and black pepper

Pile up some arugula on each plate. Sprinkle with a little rice wine vinegar, a couple drops of toasted sesame oil and toss.
Arrange alternating slices of orange and avocado on top half of salad. Sprinkle salt and pepper over the whole plate and a little more sesame oil on fruit. Fan out chicken breast just below the fruit. Now cook the potato patties if your making them.

Cooking the Potato Patties:

Heat a little canola oil in a non-stick skillet over med.-high heat.
Scoop up some of the tater mixture and form about a 3 inch patty. Dip into your egg wash, then
dredge it in the Panko crumbs.
Place the patties as you make them into the heated skillet. Spray the tops with a little canola spray. Turn when browned on first side, and continue cooking until 2nd side is browned.
Plate the patties just below the chicken and garnish with a little toasted sesame oil, sliced green onion and more black sesame seeds.
Drizzle your sauce made from the marinade over the chicken and sprinkle with more sesame seeds.

Whew! You're done! And you don't even need to wait for a damn photo to be taken to eat it! :-)
We liked this a lot. Next time I'd use a stiffer mashed potato mixture and I'm going to try just coating the patties in a dusting of brown rice flour, without the egg and panko. It was a fun morph of our Sunday mashed taters in any case!

Salad Dressing for Thai Braised Beef leftover night...

Just use the ingredients listed in this recipe in any amount that tastes good to you really...and depending on how large your salad is.

I used this over a spinach salad with cucumber, red bell pepper, tomato, avocado and cilantro since it's what we had in the house.

Instead of using Chinese egg noodles as the original recipe called for, I felt the need for a whole-grain noodle. I love using Vita-Spelt noods...I like them much better regular whole-wheat noodles for some reason and they come in all the usual noodly shapes. I used their wide egg noodle variety tonight.

Thai-ish Salad Dressing:

Juice of 1 1/2 med.-small limes
zest of one of those limes
~ 3/4-1 tsp chili garlic sauce
rice wine vinegar
1 finely grated peeled lemongrass stalk
a dash of salt
and a glurg of agave nectar

Mix it all together and tweak until you're happy with the taste. :-)

Stir-Fry with Marinated and Sauteed Tofu

I'm trying marinating the tofu this time. Usually I just cube it from the start, press it in paper toweling, sprinkle with kosher salt and garlic powder, then saute in my blended canola-sesame oil 'til crispy on a couple sides. Done. This recipe takes more steps...we'll see if it's worth it.

...It was really good, a nice change from my usual tofu treatment, but the extra cashew-hoisin sauce we topped it with really made it.

Veggie Stir-fry with Sauteed Tofu:

brown rice
red pepper flakes
1 bunch of broccolini (durn, why does this yummy stuff have to be so expensive!), cut into bite- sized pieces and blanched 30 sec-1 min. in boiling water.
green beans, halved and parboiled ~3 min
1 bunch of green onions, cut on an angle in 2" sections
extra firm tofu, marinated and sauteed as follows
sesame oil (I use the one blended with canola for a lighter taste)
seaweed gomasio
optional: cashew-hoisin sauce...I had some leftover from making the spring rolls and it was really great added to our individual bowls.

Add oil to a very hot wok, or large skillet. Stir-fry garlic, and red pepper flakes for ~30 seconds. Add broccoli and green beans. Stir-fry until almost cooked. Then add green onions. Cook for another minute, or so, then add sauteed tofu to reheat. I add the rice to the wok at this point and mix with everything else, add more sesame oil for flavor if you want, and use seaweed gomasio with sesame seeds for seasoning. Just add whatever you'd like. The Monster usually mixes up his own spicy peanut sauce for his, but this time we used the remaining cashew-hoising dipping sauce. Nom, nom. :-) You really should just make some of that stuff up since it keeps in the fridge for a long time and is great on so many things.

Tofu:
1 lb. package of extra firm water-packed tofu (I really like White Wave tofu if you can find it)
2 Tbs fresh lime juice
1 Tbs soy sauce
1 Tbs chili garlic sauce (such as Lee Kum Kee)
1 tsp sugar (agave nectar)
2 tsp fresh ginger, peeled and grated
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbs sesame oil

Cut tofu into 3/4" thick slices. Arrange them in a single layer on several layers of paper towels. Top with more layers of paper towels, then top with a cast-iron skillet, or other heavy pan. Let stand for 30 minutes. Remove tofu from paper towels and cut into 3/4" cubes. Combine tofu, lime juice, and next 6 ingredients (thru garlic) in a zip-top plastic bag. Seal and marinate at room temperature for 2 hours, turning bag occasionally.

Things to do while your tofu marinates:
Put on a large pot of water to boil. Prepare a large bowl of water and ice and and set aside. When pot of water is boiling, add green bean sections and parboil for ~3 min. Then add the broccollini, or broccoli segments, turn off the heat and cover for about 30 seconds (for the broccolini) - ~1 min (if using regular broccoli) more. Then, drain the veggies and shock in large bowl of ice water immediately, to stop the cooking process. When cool, drain the vegetables again, dry and set aside until your tofu is cooked.
Make a pot of brown rice and keep warm.

Heat a large non-stick skillet on med-high heat. Add 1 Tbs oil to the pan, swirling to coat and heat ~30 seconds.
Remove tofu from bag and discard marinade. Add tofu to pan and saute until crisp (mine didn't get crisp btw), carefully turning to brown all sides. Remove from heat.

Vietnamese Summer Rolls and (Chickenless) Asian Salad

These are great to make when you've got an extra hand for slicin' and dicin'. The Monster was up to the task, so off we went. They take a little practice to roll, but you'll get the hang of it by about the second to last one. ;-) Good news is they'll taste really great no matter what. My first one tonight was the prettiest one of all...my rolling skills seemed to go downhill with each successive spring roll. This recipe for Vietnamese Summer Rolls comes from Jaden at Steamy Kitchen. The sauce is delicious, and it's highly tweakable. I added the juice of one lime, used agave nectar in place of the sugar, and added more garlic chili sauce for extra heat. I also found that it needed to be thinned with more water than called for. You might look for the cashew butter in the bulk section of your grocery store instead of buying a whole jar of it. If you don't feel up to making the rolls, the sauce is still a winner that would be awesome tossed simply with cooked Chinese egg noodles, quick sauteed green onions and cilantro.


I served the rolls with an Asian chicken salad we like sans chicken. :-) If you'd like to make a meal of just that, you can add the diced meat of two roasted chicken breasts, or cubed extra firm tofu. The original recipe comes from The World's Healthiest Foods recipe file.


Asian Chicken Salad:

5+ cups Chinese cabbage, sliced thin (I add more veggies since I think the recipe calls for a little too much chicken)
2 boneless chicken breasts, skin on and bone in
~ 1 cup shredded carrot
~1/4 cup minced scallion
1/2 cup sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
2 Tbs toasted sesame seeds or instead, I use this great stuff by Eden Organic called Seaweed Gomasio that I'm sure you could find at Whole Foods. The original recipe called for hijiki seaweed, but I found out online that it has really high amounts of inorganic arsenic in it!! It's great on stir-fries too.)

Optional (I added these because I had the ingredients from making the spring rolls and thought they'd be tasty in the salad too):
2-3 Tbs chopped fresh mint
~ 2-3 tsp. lemongrass, grated on a microplane.

Dressing:
2 TBS extra olive oil
2 TBS soy sauce (I used a little less)
1/4 cup rice vinegar
3 TBS agave nectar, or honey
pinch red pepper flakes
salt & pepper to taste (I don't add much salt, since the gomasio has sea salt in it)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Place chicken breasts on baking sheet covered with foil. Spray or rub with canola oil, then salt and pepper generously.
3. Bake until ~35-40 min., or until a meat thermometer reads 170. When done and cool enough to touch, remove skin, and cut into bite size pieces.
4. Thinly slice head of cabbage, and shred carrot. Carrot is easily shredded in a food processor with shredding blade. Otherwise you can shred it by hand, or slice thin. Chop cilantro and scallion and add to, cabbage and carrot.
5. Whisk together olive oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, honey, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper. Toss with cabbage mixture and chicken. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or Eden Organic seaweed gomasio which has lots of toasted sesame seeds in it. I add the almonds to each individual serving, so that if there are leftovers they don't get all soggy in the dressing.

Serves 4

Thai Beef Braised in Coconut Milk with Ginger

Yet another Cooking Light recipe. I made it almost as written, but used a mix of lite and regular coconut milks for a slightly richer flavor. Next time I think I'll bump up the spices, not the cayenne, but I think I'd like more curry flavor to come out of it. It's good just like it is...I just like to tweak at stuff. :-)

Thai Braised Beef with Coconut Milk and Ginger:

1 (2 1/2-pound) boneless chuck roast
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground red pepper
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons vegetable oil, divided
3 cups chopped onion
1 cup diced carrot
2 tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 (16-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups light coconut milk (I used a combination of lite and regular for more coconut flavor)
2 tablespoons sliced peeled fresh lemon grass. Use a microplane grater or it can be fibrous when you eat it and just grate the first 2 or so inches of the stalk from the trimmed root end. Recipe says you can sub 1 tablespoon thinly sliced lime rind, but try to find the lemongrass.
3 bay leaves
6 cups hot cooked Chinese-style egg noodles (about 12 ounces uncooked...I only cooked half a package of noodles for 2 and we still had leftovers)
chopped fresh cilantro

Trim fat from beef. Cut beef into 2-inch pieces. Combine salt and next 6 ingredients (salt through black pepper) in a small bowl. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of spice mixture over beef, and toss to coat; reserve remaining spice mixture.

Preheat oven to 325°.

Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add beef; cook 5 minutes, browning on all sides. Remove from pan. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in pan. Add onion, carrot, ginger, and garlic; sauté 8 minutes or until tender. Stir in broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Return beef to pan. Add remaining spice mixture, coconut milk, lemon grass, and bay leaves. Bring to a boil. Cover and bake at 325° for 2 hours. Remove beef from pan using a slotted spoon; shred with 2 forks, set aside, and keep warm. Bring vegetable mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Cook 10 minutes or until slightly thick. Discard bay leaves, then add beef back to pot. Serve beef and vegetable mixture over noodles. Sprinkle with cilantro.

Thai Coconut-Curry Salmon with Greens

I'm always looking for new ways to prepare salmon and this is a Cooking Light recipe I made last month with great success. I added 3 tsp of hot curry powder this time, and I served over rice noodles since the recipe creates a yummy broth.

Thai Coconut-Curry Salmon with Greens

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 cup thinly sliced onion
2-3 teaspoons hot or mild curry powder
1 cup light coconut milk
2 tablespoons sugar (I use a squeeze of agave nectar instead)
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon minced ginger
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon chile paste with garlic (I used over 1 tsp. for a little more heat)
1 (8-ounce) bottle clam juice
1 (1-pound) salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 1 inch cubes
6 cups trimmed watercress (about 2 bunches) if you can't find watercress, try baby spinach
cooked rice stick noodles
Siracha (optional)

Heat vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and curry powder; sauté 4 minutes. Add coconut milk and the next 7 ingredients (coconut milk through clam juice). Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and simmer 3 minutes. Add fish; cover and cook 4 minutes. Arrange watercress evenly over fish; cover and cook 3 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. You'll have a nice broth, so serve in a bowl over some cooked rice stick noodles.

Yield:
4 servings (serving size: 1 cup)